Then-Democratic candidate Doug Jones takes a group picture with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) (R) and Rep.Terri Sewell (D-AL) (3rd from Right) and supporters during a campaign event held at Alabama State University on December 9, 2017 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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The lesson here is that Democrats need to stop treating African Americans simply as a source of votes.

Some on the left remain fixated on the mystery of why public policies that harm working people are often enabled by the votes of working people.

Indeed, a significant number of workingclass white voters abandoned the Democratic Party and made possible the election of Donald J. Trump. The media has given considerable attention to these disaffected voters, and some Democrats pine and plot to win them back.

But that raises the question: Why has the Democratic Party failed to focus on those voters—African Americans, immigrants, single parents—whose views most closely align with the party’s vision?

The Dec. 12, 2017, election of Alabama Democrat Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate, thanks to strong turnout from this base, is a long overdue template for the future. In our media and political landscape, competing for Trump voters is a fool’s errand. The power of conservative media to wall off large sections of the electorate from countervailing opinions prevents the possibility of progressive political messaging.

How do you turn around voters who believe that Barack Obama was born in Kenya or that Mexico will pay for a border wall? A 2015 analysis by the media watchdog FAIR found that white people who regularly watch Fox News are more likely to express “attitudes of symbolic racism” and racial resentment. And conservative media’s daily dismissal of Black protest as “unpatriotic” feeds ignorance about Black grievance.

Even amid historic racial inequities, Pew Research Center found in 2017 that 72 percent of Republican-leaning voters say whites benefit “not too much” or “not at all” from racial advantage, compared to only 21 percent of Democraticleaning voters.

Under pressure to win in 2018 and 2020, Democrats may be tempted to court conservative white voters while soft-pedaling political demands from communities of color. That strategy, championed by Rahm Emanuel when he chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2005 to 2007, proved disastrous. Emanuel’s Blue Dog Democrats proceeded to aid Republicans in watering down the stimulus package and blocking a public option in the Affordable Care Act.

Fortunately, Jones’ Alabama victory provides a guide as to how Democrats can win, even in so-called red states, by tapping into a latent progressive voting pool of people of color (including rural Blacks), enlightened whites and youth.

To be sure, Jones faced a flawed opponent in Roy Moore, who failed to inspire the state’s notoriously right-wing white voter base. But Black organizations and churches in Alabama also led a vigorous grassroots mobilization. Woke Vote, for example, canvassed heavily African-American neighborhoods and college campuses, and got people not only to vote but to bring out their neighbors as well. Turnout in Black communities vastly exceeded that of the 2014 gubernatorial race.

Make no mistake: The yeoman’s work was done by Black organizations, not Jones’ campaign, which was at times tone-deaf on race. The lesson here is that Democrats need to stop treating African Americans simply as a source of votes. The party must unambiguously declare itself the party of Black people—and Latinos, Asian Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, all women and LGBTQ people.

To that end, it must advocate for a platform that fully fuses the quest for racial, economic and gender justice, one that prioritizes the interests of service-sector workers rather than the moribund mining sector, and emphasizes decarceration, comprehensive immigration reform, healthcare for all, a national living wage and robust reproductive rights.

This is not only a progressive vision but apragmatic path for winning. Are you listening, Democrats?

I used to ask 'where will the Dirkson Republicans go after they have been chased out of the party by the Dixiecrats?' The DLC was the answer. What this means is that the DNC since Bill has been the party that was of, by and for the moderate corporatist. Thomas Frank provides the details in 'Listen Liberal'. Given this history, the real question is why bother with the Dems at all?

The answer is that because of the structure of our governance in the U.S. a third party can only succeed if it replaces an existing party (Whig Party -who?). The turmoil in both national parties may be the labor pains of a new party that adopts the values that favor the social contract to support life liberty and the pursuit of happiness rather that the business deal.

Posted by Julius Hayden on 2018-01-13 11:01:39

"Why has the Democratic Party failed to focus on those voters—African Americans, immigrants, single parents—whose views most closely align with the party’s vision?"

Because in fact the "party's vision" does not align with the views of those voters but with the agenda of Wall Street and privilege?

Posted by sherlockhemlock on 2018-01-11 02:48:32

First I would have to question what FAIR describes as "attitudes of symbolic racism". This sounds like a nonsense phrase that could blanket almost any action or thought, deliberate or not. We also have to remember that FAIR was an organization that is so entrenched in their ideology that they were describing the Benghazi attack as being caused by a video, long after it was common knowledge that it was not.As far as the election of Jones, getting out the black vote was certainly important, but it might have had something to do with the fact that hollywood felt compelled to get involved and flooded his campaign with money, and even then his victory over Roy Moore was far from a landslide.I think its time that black voters look at the actions of the democrat party and ask if this is the party that reflects their values, as individuals and not as a group. In polls black families overwhelmingly want school choice, but the democrat party is steadfastly against it. It is also the democrat party, in an effort to allow those who are here illegally to vote, push the blame of not wanting voter id on the shoulders of the black community by portraying them as somehow unable how to figure out how to get an id. Isn't this the belief of inherent inferiority that is the definition of racism? Seems to me if FAIR wants to pinpoint racism, symbolic or otherwise, that is it.All voters, black and white, need to break their alliance with these traditional parties. Republicans and democrats are, for the most part, not that different, party wise. Our adoration based on party affiliation needs to fall to the garbage disposal of history where it belongs and we should judge candidates individually. Voters also need to be united in voting them out of office after two terms, no matter what. And don't be afraid of looking at libertarian candidates as an alternative.

Posted by Brutatowski on 2018-01-10 15:20:16

This article is an elitist losing recipe. To quote someone recently, "there can be no intersectionalism without class." Sanders had many of these voters, despite the conservative media firewall. But to give up on the very communities which originally organized unions is just basically to give up the fight. We might as well let the rich reign.